Simply add organic debris to the soil surface and let your “underground herd” break it down. As it does, it will improve your soil's texture and make nutrients available to your plants. So don't be shy about applying copious amounts of organic residue to your soil.
Covering soil with plants is the best way to jazz it up and bring it back to life. Use nourishing greencrop's, or light feeding rootcrops, or seasonally apt legumes like peas, broadbeans or beans. You could, of course, do a mix of all three.
The easiest way to re-wet dried out soil - in my experience - is just dumping it all into a bucket and pouring water and then mixing it up until the soil re-wets. If you pour too much water, just leave the bucket for a few days and the soil will dry out to a more normal moisture level.
Soil is resilient and it can be brought back to life, which is good news. The first step in this process is to amend the soil to provide nutrition and enhance the ability of the soil to retain moisture.
Add Water
For old and dry soil that isn't compacted, add water to a pot of soil and let it drain out from the bottom.
If the soil is hard because its dry and compacted, I would moisten the soil. Water it, let the water soak in, then water again, and repeat until the soil is deeply moist but not so much that water pools on the surface. Let it sit for a day. Any soil when moist is workable.
How to Keep Soil Moist by Adding Compost. Compost can hold several times more moisture than dry soil particles. Adding compost to your soil allows the soil to hold onto more moisture, keeps precious microbiology alive (which helps plants thrive), and feeds your plant low amounts of plant food.
Initially, just moisten the soil. Thereafter, water well once every week during the growing season then allow the plant to rest and breathe before watering again. If they're not too far gone, you may be able to rehydrate container plants. Plants stressed from drought should be fertilized carefully.
Soil may also become hard due to lack of water, rocky composition, or excessive foot, equipment or vehicle traffic. Over-tilling, working soil when it is sodden, and mixing sand into clay soil in an effort to lighten it can all contribute to compaction, resulting in soil that is hard and difficult to work.
Understanding Hard Soil
It's like trying to work with concrete, making gardening a challenging task. Understanding the nature of hard soil is the first step towards effective treatment. Hard soil typically occurs due to various reasons, such as heavy foot traffic, improper irrigation, or the presence of clay.
Some tangible benefits from improved soil health may take 5-10 years to become visible or measurable, but others may appear within a single year.
Restoring good vegetation to degraded soil helps to maintain its structure, as the roots become strongly anchored, generating a cycle of organic matter that can help to restore fertility.
To re-wet, repeatedly sprinkle the surface lightly, making sure there is no run off. Covering the surface with a mulch such as straw, leaves, wood chips, or compost will also help. Eventually the soil will become moist enough to break up. A gentle, steady rain will also do the trick.
The two main sources of moisture loss are drainage and evaporation. Improving soil organic matter will reduce drainage losses by improving Field Capacity and will also reduce the leaching loss of important minerals.
Thankfully, there is one method that will consistently rewet super dry potting soil; wetting and mixing it with very warm or hot water and then hand turning and mixing it (be sure to wear water-impermeable gloves). The heat helps the peat and compost easily take up water again.
Soil science is a complex conversation, and “fixing” the patch of earth you garden takes time and effort. The simplest solution is to add organic matter. No matter what type of soil you inherited, the addition of organic matter is the best way to improve it.
Compost is the key ingredient for building and maintaining healthy soil. Because of its unique characteristics, compost cannot simply be replaced with manure, natural fertilizers, or green manure. If you've just moved to a new garden and want productivity, compost will rapidly make your soils fertile.
Dry soil can be easily improved by adding organic matter, such as well-rotted manure or garden compost. This will improve the soil structure and will help to retain moisture.
Till the ground and mix in some well composted manure and/or compost. The organic matter will help the hard soil, add nutrients and attract benifical Fungi and bacteria.
Rich Soil isn't crafted directly. You make it by crafting Organic Compost and putting it into the world. It will then decompose over time. This soil block can be tilled into Rich Farmland through the use of hoes.